An Intelligent Permeability Optimization System at Sinter Plant of Rourkela Steel Plant

Abstract

The permeability of sinter mix is one of the vital parameters that affect the performance of sintering process. The amount of water added in the granulation drum has a significant effect on the permeability of the sinter bed and sinter machine productivity. Considering the variation in input feed materials and the parabolic nature of permeability-moisture curve, the optimum level of water addition is a difficult task for the operator to determine. Therefore a mathematical model based intelligent permeability measurement system is developed which determine the required amount of water to be added in granulation drum to achieve the optimum permeability based on the given input material.

Utilization of micro-fines in sinter making and its implications on bed permeability and sinter quality

“…Sinter beds' permeability is significantly affected by the amount of moisture that is added during granulation in the mixing drum. The relationship between moisture percentage and bed permeability is parabolic in nature [5][6][7], and thus during any variation of input feed material size and characteristics, determining the optimum level of moisture addition can be difficult for the operator. Based on various experiments it was evaluated that, a 1% deviation from the optimum moisture leads to a nearly 10% drop in permeability and in turn about a 10% drop in sinter machine productivity [5,6].…”

“…The relationship between moisture percentage and bed permeability is parabolic in nature [5][6][7], and thus during any variation of input feed material size and characteristics, determining the optimum level of moisture addition can be difficult for the operator. Based on various experiments it was evaluated that, a 1% deviation from the optimum moisture leads to a nearly 10% drop in permeability and in turn about a 10% drop in sinter machine productivity [5,6]. Mixing drum plays an important role in achieving proper agglomeration of green mix to form uniform-sized green balls.…”

Quality and productivity enhancement of sintering process using correlation-based online permeability by infrared-based flow measurement technique

“…In the wake of permeability study [4][5][6], there were model-based methods [7,8] to derive permeability. Goswami et al [9] proposed to get the permeability through modelling by JPU and thereby getting permeability versus moisture set point curve to derive optimum permeability at optimum moisture set point in Mixing and Nodulizing Drum (MND). But it suffered from disadvantage of sticky nature of green sinter mix.…”

“…Moreover, orifice plate assembly is not able to measure the flow under multiphase and turbulent environment continuously. Also, other implementation of permeability measurement made apart from SAIL, Rourkela [9] is furnished below:…”

“…Also, other implementation of permeability measurement made apart from SAIL, Rourkela [9] is furnished below: Primetals developed advanced moisture/permeability control implemented with real time robotic measurement – this is an off-line device. Not many users [18].…”